


Maybe, Maybe

by AreYouReady



Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: Academy Era, Crushes, F/F, Flirting, Or Rather College Era For Keiko, Social Gatherings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-25
Updated: 2017-08-25
Packaged: 2018-12-19 14:16:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11899497
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AreYouReady/pseuds/AreYouReady
Summary: Keiko was feeling adventurous. She had just cut her hair, and it floated light and free, just to her chin, no longer pulled earthward by its own weight. Her lips were sticky with dark red pigment, and she left it on the lip of her glass as she sipped syntheholic champagne. The woman in the white suit walked out of the fountain with such easy swagger that Keiko bit her lip, and the instantaneous vanishing of water from her clothes and hair lent a hint of rockstar flash to the scene.Keiko has a good evening.





	Maybe, Maybe

**Author's Note:**

  * For [deepcreek](https://archiveofourown.org/users/deepcreek/gifts).



> Written for Trek Rarepair Swap on tumblr.

Keiko was feeling adventurous. She had just cut her hair, and it floated light and free, just to her chin, no longer pulled earthward by its own weight. Her lips were sticky with dark red pigment, and she left it on the lip of her glass as she sipped syntheholic champagne. The biggest hall Luna School of Natural Sciences had was decked out all in white and pale gray. They were the school colors, but it made everything feel like winter, even though Luna was currently in its simulated early autumn. The seasonal anachronism lent a bit of timeless magic to the atmosphere.

Her dress slithered around her legs as she walked, its iridescence giving the black fabric an almost oily sheen. She’d chosen it to stand out from the decor - she liked to be noticed, now and then. To imagine herself as the delicate, mysterious stranger that fascinated all whose lines of vision she crossed. Not that she was a stranger to anyone here. She was in her third year, and everyone knew everyone at Luna. Compounding that, she’d been a TA in Introductory Chemistry, the largest class in the school, the previous semester. She’d helped half the now sophomores with their homework, and two thirds of them knew her by sight. But it didn’t hurt to dream.

The middle of the room held a fountain. The water was holographic, so there were a few students messing around in the lowest level of the elegant crystal construction, safe in the knowledge that their formal wear would no longer be wet and ruined once they left the emitter field. Keiko felt a passing impulse to join them, and glided her way through the crowd in the general direction of the centerpiece, not so excited to arrive there that she was willing to intersect her own personal space bubble with those of others. As she approached, she saw one of the students in the water fall, with a massive splash, flat on his back. Others, standing nearby, flinched instinctively, even though the water was simply photons, and showed its nature by evaporating at the edge of an invisible cylinder, whose base was defined by the outer lip of the fountain.

Keiko pushed her way through the frozen crowd, and eventually stood on tiptoe, in an attempt to ascertain the safety of her fallen classmate, but by the time she could get a clear look, he was sitting up and grinning sheepishly. Someone offered him a hand, and Keiko’s attention immediately refocused.

Normally, the image of a woman in white, soaked to the bone, is erotically charged because of the unfortunate tendency of white fabric to become translucent when wet. But this woman, this stranger, and her soaking wet white linen suit, too thick to see through, presented an image of grandure that struck all those watching silent, just for a moment, as she helped her fallen classmate to his feet. At least, that’s what Keiko imagined. It didn’t hurt to dream.

She walked out of the fountain with such easy swagger that Keiko bit her lip, and the instantaneous vanishing of water from her clothes and hair lent a hint of rockstar flash to the scene. 

In short, Keiko had a crush. An  _ embarrassing  _ crush.

She spent the rest of the evening watching the woman out of the corner of her eye, not willing to approach her and risk embarrassing herself with stuttering, tongue-tiedness, or other unfortunate symptoms of a new and raw attraction. The most notable thing she gained was the impression that the woman in the white suit was not just a stranger to her, but also to her classmates. A first year? No, she had far too much confidence. A new professor? She looked far too young, and the idea disturbed Keiko too much. A transfer? More likely. But from where?

Her private observation lasted until it was time to sit for the beginning of year banquet. She kept her champagne glass from the reception as she sat down at the seat with the little Keiko Ishikawa name card. The half full glass with its lipstick smudge ruined the otherwise pristine setting, but Keiko enjoyed that, a little bit. She wished for a holoimager, so viewers in some gallery somewhere might see the picture without its context, and invent their own reasons for the disruption. She smiled at the thought. 

And then another smudged champagne flute set down next to hers. The liptick on this one was lighter, brighter, a vivid red. The delicate fingers that held it had short, red nails, matching the lipstick, and they emerged from the sleeve of a white blazer.

“Cadet- no, Miss...?” The voice was high, and cut the air like razors, even though it spoke gently. Keiko twitched in her seat as she turned to face its owner - the woman in the white suit.

“Keiko Ishikawa. Call me Keiko, please,” Keiko said, after ten seconds of rearranging her face into an expression that wasn’t a gape, and five of schooling her voice to polite flatness. “And you are?” 

“Kathryn.” The woman flashed a winning smile, and Keiko found herself blinking rapidly. She watched as the woman’s eyes swept over her, feeling herself evaluated.

“You’re starfleet.” Kathryn had an insignia on her breast, despite her civilian clothes.

“I am. Just a Cadet. I’m taking a year at Luna to explore branches of scientific education not usually offered at the Academy. What about you, Keiko?”

“Exobotany. My major is exobotany, and I’m a third year.” Keiko managed not to stammer, somehow.

“Sounds wonderful. Maybe we’ll be in the same classes,” Kathryn said. Despite the inanity of the smalltalk, Keiko felt herself grinning.

“Maybe our dorms are close by,” Keiko added. Kathryn licked her lips, and Keiko was captivated.

“Maybe I’ll see you around.” That sounded… flirtatious. Kathryn was fluttering her eyelashes.

“Maybe you’d better.” Alright, they were definitely flirting.

“Maybe…” Kathryn’s grin was getting wider and more crooked by the second.

“Maybe.” Keiko raised her eyebrows in return.

Tonight was going to be fun.


End file.
